Chelsea comeback shreds nerves of Mourinho and Spurs

A glorious race against time ended in a dead heat. Tottenham had been in action late on Thursday night to beat Braga in Portugal and could not overwhelm Chelsea before the energy levels began to drain from them in the FA Cup quarter-final. For their part the Stamford Bridge side, lagging 3-1, willed their way back for a draw, yet failed to add the very late winner that would have been so typical of them.

There must have been a dazed satisfaction for everyone. This, after all, had been a domestic fixture without equal since, perhaps, the 2006 FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham. Excitement of this degree depends on errors and the match was strewn with them; never before on Jose Mourinho's watch had Chelsea conceded three goals at home.

There might have been a decisive fourth. Two minutes from the end Jermain Defoe got free of Frank Lampard and angled a drive that would have found the net had a fingertip save by Petr Cech not touched it on to the bar. There had been many alarms in a Chelsea defence that has so often been impregnable and it was good that Mourinho refrained from blaming it all on the continuing unavailability of John Terry, following his concussion.

Tottenham could lament an absent captain and centre-back of their own in Ledley King, who has been injured since Boxing Day. No one was talking, however, about regret, with the possible exception of Steve McClaren, who will watch these squads, as well as those of Manchester United and Middlesbrough, clashing in FA Cup replays on March 19, five days ahead of England's Euro 2008 qualifier in Israel.

Fixture congestion is to be relished if it crams another occasion like this into the calendar. The contest gripped because Mourinho did not exert his habitual control. It was as if he was scrambling like any mortal manager to restore order, and not making much headway. Mourinho switched to a back three when Chelsea were 2-1 down and had to keep on fiddling with the composition of it.

The match was the work of individual footballers, with their talents and foibles, and it was all the more enthralling for that. Chelsea's equaliser in the 86th minute found the Tottenham substitute Anthony Gardner omitting to challenge Didier Drogba properly for a diagonal ball by Ricardo Carvalho and the Ivorian's header into the middle was volleyed home by another substitute, Salomon Kalou.

There had been spells when the pursuit of the visitors had looked futile. With Aaron Lennon given a free role behind the attack, Chelsea could not come up with anyone to stifle the threat. With five minutes gone, Defoe took the ball across the face of the defence and Lennon threaded it through for Dimitar Berbatov to finish.

An equaliser, 17 minutes later, had a more haphazard tone. Drogba picked out Andriy Shevchenko and his chested lay-off was mishit by Michael Ballack, only for Lampard to get the first of his two goals by reacting smartly to put the loose ball past Radek Cerny, the goalkeeper deputising for the injured Paul Robinson.

It was a mistake to assume that normal service had been resumed. Towards the close of the afternoon Chelsea were still on edge and the Tottenham manager, Martin Jol, claimed his men ought to have had a penalty when the ball came off Carvalho's arm. The sense of jeopardy must have been profound for Mourinho's players for prolonged periods of the game.

They could not even trust themselves. Paul Stalteri got the ball to Lennon in the 21st minute and his low cross would have been taken by Cech had Michael Essien, oblivious to his goalkeeper, not intervened to record his second own goal of the season. Self-destruction was to recur in an even more idiosyncratic form after 36 minutes.

Hossam Ghaly hit the ball towards Ashley Cole, who completed an inadvertent one-two by putting it up in the air so that the Egyptian could gather on his chest as he burst through a pack of hesitant Chelsea players to shoot past Cech. The mood was of a match sprinting out of the reach of the Premiership champions.

Tottenham, who have now racked up 20 goals in their last six matches, could enjoy the momentum. While Jol had started with half a dozen players who had begun the game in Braga, adrenalin delayed the symptoms of fatigue.

It was the second Chelsea goal, in the 71st minute, that proved the visitors were buckling. Ballack headed a Robben corner towards Drogba and the ball broke back for Lampard to score with care. The programme is taking its toll, with Tottenham and Mourinho's team now proceeding to matches, respectively, against Braga and Manchester City on Wednesday. If the outcome of such a workload is unpredictability as compelling as that on show at Stamford Bridge no spectator should protest.

Man of the match Aaron Lennon

Until he wearied, the forward reduced the Chelsea defence to a state of chaos. Jose Mourinho's side could not cope with the England tyro, who was a constant menace in a free role behind the front line.

Best Moment The pass for Dimitar Berbatov's opener, if only because it was the first in a chain of surprises in this quarter-final.

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